Start to develop your final project proposal and conduct research to contextualize your work.

  1. Portrait, landscape, outdoor, indoor, narrative, abstract, funny, political, serious, protest, nature, society, justice, commercial? (Genres an Areas of Interest).
  2. Nature, culture, artificial, history, future, science? (Subjects).
  3. Storytelling, documenting, poetry, art? (Formats and Methodologies). 

 

The genres and areas of interest that have alway intrigued me include landscape photography, outdoor photography, indoor photography, black and white photography, abstract photography, and societal photography. I’ve always loved black and white photography, and really want to explore it more. But more recently the last two areas that I listed have appealed to me the most because of two of the projects that we did earlier in the semester: Message & Abstraction, and Space, Place, & Environment. For abstract photography, I’m not sure if others approached it this way, but I took very up-close photos of different things that I feel normally aren’t considered “aesthetic” enough to be photographed. The proximity to these items, as well as the photo-editing afterward, really worked to bring out some of that hidden beauty, which I really enjoyed. It may be better described as up-close, detailed photography. I may tie in black and white editing into some photos, but I think my general focus will be on, but for my final project, I intend to focus on detail-driven work.

 

For subjects, nature has always been something that I’ve liked to photograph. It ties in closely with in interest in landscape photography, though I’ve also liked to photograph animals, plants, etc. more closely as well. Recently, I’ve been feeling more nostalgic which has turned my interests towards culture and society. For my final project, I think I’d like to choose a place, whether it’s my hometown, school, or another place in New York, and try to capture the culture or the essence of the place through minor details that might not typically catch your eye.

 

In the past, formats and methodologies that I’ve tried out include storytelling and documenting. I thought that storytelling was really interesting, because I went in with many ideas for what the series would look like, but a lot of what came out in the end––what fit the best––didn’t exactly follow my intended plan. Though that was fun, I think I want to focus documentation for my final project. I think that as an artist, I tend to do a lot more creating and thinking of out-of-the-box ways to portray abstract ideas. I think breaking away from that and pursuing documentation would be good. There are lots of ways in which things can be documented creatively, and I think I’ll learn more about how to utilize what I’ve been given rather than try to create something new every time.